Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

"Much more than GTA3, but much less than GTA: SA. Think of it as GTA3.5"

Introduction: Grand Theft Auto been a successful and controversial series. Since its 3D debut with GTA3, Rockstar has been pushing the limits of both gameplay and politicians alike. This recent GTA portable was put on PS2, and is actually a direct prequel to GTA3.

Gameplay (7): First, lets start with the main game. You play as Toni Cipriani, a small-time guy, who works for Salvatore Leone, the boss of the Leone mafia. Your missions are just like they were in the previous GTAs (for the most part): pick people up, shoot people, go to the pay n' spray, repeat. There are a good amount of main missions in the game, some of which will change how the city looks or open up a new town.

Now lets talk about the core gameplay. As in any GTA, the premise is to go wherever you want and do whatever you want. You will find a lot of familiar and new cars to drive, as well as several motorcycles. More guns have been added compared to GTA3, including variations for some. The locations of hidden packages, rampages, unique jumps, and weapons have been changed from before and are scattered around the three cities.

Aside from the main missions, you will find a wide variety of fun side-missions to do. The usual R3 missions are still there (vigilante, taxi, etc.) There are also some specific missions like races, being a car salesman, and taking people to different sightseeing locations. The RC missions are back, too (for better or for worse). I'm sure that everyone can find a few nice side-missions that they will love to play over and over again. Even if you don't feel like doing main missions or side-missions, there are still plenty of billboards and pedestrian quotes to find that will have you laughing.

The real downfall of the gameplay comes from the fact that GTA: LCS takes several steps backwards from Rockstar's GTA: San Andreas. Sure, it has some vehicles and weapons from the previous games, and it makes jokes that are references to the others, but where's the groundbreaking material? Just because it was originally a PSP game doesn't mean we should ignore the fact that it doesn't offer anything original. There are no stats to build, you can't swim, no gambling, limited clothing options, no flying, and no new areas to explore (other than a few small spots that aren't even worth mentioning).

As if it wasn't bad enough that we have to go back to the “old ways”, we were screwed over even more by being denied things from the PSP version. It's annoying to not having a snow effect and no multiplayer in the PS2 version. Furthermore, there are still glitches in the game from the original that could have been easily fixed (such as the rewards for “Scrapyard Challenge” disappearing when you turn off the game).

Story (6): As stated before, you play as Toni Cipriani. You may remember him as one of the guys you did missions for in GTA3, but in LCS he is just small-time. You come back after a long absence to go back to work for Salvatore Leone. You start off doing missions for some of the other members of the Leone group and eventually work your way up the food chain.

Things progress slowly throughout the game, but there is a major problem with the story: it's rather boring. There is very little that happens by the end of the game that matters, other than the fact that Toni gets “made”. I won't spoil the ending, but let's just say that you will be left thinking “that's it?”

Toni and Salvatore are the only real main characters of the game. Everyone else is in it for a very short time (either because they didn't have a strong presence to begin with or because they died quickly). Besides these two characters, the people aren't memorable in any way. While some of these other characters might have some interesting aspects about them that initially seem cool, they all lack the personality to keep the player interested in them.

Cutscenes (7): Like the other GTAs, there are cutscenes at the beginning of each mission, and sometimes during or at the end of a mission. As usual, you'll find some clever jokes, silly incidents, dirty innuendos, and rather good acting mixed into these. The problem is that very few of the missions actually advance the story in a significant way, and none of these cutscenes does anything to stick in your mind for very long. They're sometimes funny, but the cutscenes just aren't anything special in LCS.

Controls (9): Everything has been updated for the PS2 version. The controls are very similar to the other titles. Shooting, jumping, running, switching guns, driving, and camera control are just like before, which is perfectly fine. No need to change something that isn't broken, right?

Graphics (6): Don't let the score scare you. I wasn't expecting much since it was a PSP port, and it's not like graphics are what make a game great. However, the poor score is because the graphics aren't anything great. It's not like they are so bad that you can't stand it, but there's nothing that will look impressive.

Difficulty (8): The difficulty is well-balanced for all aspects of the game. Both main missions and side-quests are done the way they should be. There aren't any missions that you will be pulling your hair out over. Some of the hidden packages and unique jumps are a bit ridiculous, but nothing that's really worth complaining about.

Music (8): The radio stations offer some good songs for you to listen to, which is the most important thing in this aspect of the game. The commercials are funny as always, many of which have references to characters/places/companies from past games. They also added some different types of music such as the one that plays more of an Arabian-style music. The only thing I noticed that was bad was that there seems to be a lack of content. It just doesn't feel like there is enough, especially since you will be hearing repeats of songs very soon.

Pros
- It's great playing the GTA3 cities with some of the newer gameplay mechanics.
- Several weapons and vehicles to have fun with.
- For those of you that are collectors, there are plenty of hidden packages and other things to keep you exploring.

Cons
- The story, while not bad, doesn't really have anything memorable.
- The fact that things were taken out of the PS2 version, instead of having stuff added in, is quite unforgivable.
- LCS offers very little in original gameplay.

Conclusion (6): Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is not a bad game, despite my negative rants and somewhat low score. Any fan of the series will be able to appreciate what it has to offer and will find it a deal at $20. However, as much as I dislike having to bring comparisons into reviews too much, I must say that San Andreas is not only above this game but also should be the unprecedented choice between the GTA games. If you need a new GTA game, you can't go wrong with LCS. If you just want one GTA game that will hold your interest, then get SA or VC.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 10/31/06